Posts Tagged ‘bone spurs’

A board certified typically does spine surgery and or fellowship trained spine surgeon to relieve pain and other symptoms by decreasing the pressure on a compressed nerve or by stabilizing the spine. In the case of a herniated or ruptured disc area, a discectomy may be done to remove the damaged portion of a disc in the spine; or a laminectomy may be done to remove bone spurs or other spinal growths. In cases where the spine is very unstable, a spinal fusion can be performed to secure together two or more of the vertebral bones so that they “fuse” together. These surgeries are now often performed using minimally invasive techniques that minimize damage to the surrounding tissue and allow for a faster recovery with much less blood loss. Laser spine surgery is often promoted as being minimally or even noninvasive and risk-free. However, these laser spine procedures do require incisions and the laser itself can result in many serious complications.

Laser

Laser spine surgery or Laser Back Surgery has never been studied in a controlled clinical trial to determine its effectiveness. Marketing pitches for spine surgery performed with a laser often make bold major promises of pain relief for chronic neck and back pain and a quick return to normal life; sometimes in a matter of days. What is often not clear from marketing hype is that laser spine surgery or laser back surgery done at such places as the laser spine institute does actually involve surgery. An incision is required to allow access to the spine area in need of care. A focused beam of light (laser) is then used only to remove the soft tissues over the spine. Bone and ligament are then removed in order to free the nerve from compression using small instruments. The laser in laser spine surgery or laser back surgery actually plays a very minor role in the total surgical procedure of the spine.

Lasers are certainly not new technology by any means. Lasers have been available for use in medicine since 1973. However, they have not been widely adopted as a tool to be used in spinal surgery ever. The fact is that most neurosurgeons do not use or recommend the use of lasers for any spine surgery because there are no clear benefits and there are other well-established and documented studies proving the effectiveness of more modern and established spine surgery techniques.

It is important to have a proper diagnosis of your problem before deciding to undergo spine major surgery. Most cases of back and neck pain are muscular in origin and do not require or benefit from surgery. Unless severe pain or muscle weakness is making walking or performing daily activities extremely difficult, surgery is rarely the first line of treatment ever. Anti-inflammatory medication, physical therapy and exercise, lifestyle changes and other noninvasive treatment modalities such as therapeutic massage are often successful at resolving back and neck pain.

If conservative treatments fail to reduce back pain, then surgery may be necessary, depending on your current diagnosis. For example, if you have a herniated disk with leg or arm pain as a major symptom that hasn’t been relieved with other treatments, discectomy may be appropriate. If surgery is recommended, get a clear explanation of your diagnosis and how the surgery will help relieve your symptoms.

Traditional spine surgery has been tested in numerous clinical trials. The major vast majority of patients who undergo discectomy for treatment of a herniated disc experienced relief from pain and other symptoms. In elderly patients diagnosed with spinal stenosis, laminectomy is also a highly effectively procedure. Very few neurosurgeons regard laser spine surgery as a viable alternative to conventional spine surgery techniques. BecomePainFree spine surgeons do not use or recommend laser spine surgery or laser back surgery such as the ones done at the laser spine institute.

BecomePainFree.com compared to traditional open spine surgery, utilizes the knowledge of important anatomy, along with cutting-edge technology, to treat your spinal condition without causing undue injury to the surrounding soft tissues. Computer-assisted technology (such as computer navigation, nerve monitoring, and pain mapping) and highly specialized tools and instrumentation provide for the safe and effective treatment of your pain. Nearly all chronic neck and back pain that cam be treated openly (the most invasive), can be performed minimally invasively at MINIMALLY INVASIVE BECOMEPAINFREE.COM™. These modern and advanced minimally invasive techniques are used to treat common back and neck degenerative conditions like herniated disc and spinal stenosis, as well as bone spurs, bulging discs, and sciatica to name a few.

MINIMALLY INVASIVE BECOMEPAINFREE.COM™ doctors are trained spine specialists who never use the typical expandable retractors. Our innovative and cutting edge minimally invasive spine equipment allows us to go between the muscle, often through an incision as small as 3 mm (the size of a large piece of rice), to avoid cutting the muscle altogether, this resulting in the most patient focused procedures which benefits include the smallest incisions you can possibly achieve, less blood loss, and considerably faster recovery times.

Unlike other practices, MINIMALLY INVASIVE BECOMEPAINFREE.COM™ surgeons are trained spine specialists, more specifically, fellowship-trained and educated in the most innovative, minimally invasive technologies on the medical market. As leaders and innovators in their field, the MINIMALLY INVASIVE BECOMEPAINFREE.COM™ doctors are advisers to many international spine technology companies and have helped design many groundbreaking tools for the spine surgery industry.